1. Technical Field
An aspect of the present invention relates to a dust remover unit for a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a sheet feeder employed in, for example, an image forming apparatus is provided with a dust remover unit, which removes fine paper dust from a surface of a sheet of paper, on a feeding path of the sheet. Such a sheet feeder is illustrated in FIG. 10, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2002-108153. The dust remover unit includes, for example, a feed roller 53a, a remover roller 54a, a sponge member 55a, and an auger 56a. 
The dust adhered onto the surface of the sheet being fed is removed therefrom when the sheet becomes in contact with a surface of the remover roller 54a, which is charged triboelectrically by the sponge member 55a. The dust is thus electrostatically absorbed by the remover roller 54a to be removed from the surface of the sheet.
The dust adhered to the remover roller 54a is thereafter scraped off by the sponge member 55a. The removed dust retains in space 68a between the sponge member 55a and the remover roller 54a, and develops to make a lump.
When the lump becomes larger to a certain size and falls due to its own weight, the lump can be guided to become in contact with the auger 56a. The auger 56a can involve the lump of dust to transport the same out of the sheet feeder. Thus, the paper dust is required to be accumulated to make a certain size of a lump in order to be carried by the auger 56a. 